Harry Potter and Sorcerous Endeavors
by Cor Strike FX
Summary: Second in the series, HPXFF8 crossover. Harry's adventures in Ron's PS2 continue, and now he must help save a world from a sorceress bent on dominating the world.
1. Brand New World

All right, so, here am I starting the next in the Final Pottersy series.

Harry: Why are you calling it 'Final Pottersy' anyway?

Well, it's a mix of Final Fantasy and Harry Potter...I thought it was kind of obvious...

Sirius: *opens mouth.*

Shut it, Padfoot.

Sirius: *closes mouth.*

Harry: I can't tell if you really have him trained well...or you just know what he's going to say before he says it...

* * *

Something warm and wet licked at his ear. "Gerroff..." Harry said sleepily, swatting at whatever was disturbing him. He _had_ been having a good dream instead of his usual nightmare, too, about saving the imaginary world of a video game.

The warm wet thing backed off with a playful growl, and then..."GRROOWWWFF!"

The dog's bark caused Harry's eyes to snap open as he rolled to his feet, sword coming around to point at...

"Angelo!"

Harry looked up, his sword lowering from the playfully growling dog, at the sound of a girl's voice. She was pretty, Harry surmised, with straight dark brown hair falling to her shoulder blades and warm chocolate brown eyes lit up by a smile. She was dressed in a blue overcoat over a dark sleeveless shirt and black shorts, with black leather boots. There was some kind of launcher weapon on her right arm. She was currently running, the tail of her coat flapping out behind her.

Harry stowed his sword away as she approached and gripped the dog's collar firmly. Out of breath, she looked at Harry. "Sorry about that...Angelo's usually so well behaved that I don't need a leash."

_Lead_ Harry's mind corrected automatically. Harry shrugged. "It's all right. No harm done."

Angelo whined softly as the girl attached a sturdy-looking lead to his collar. "I'm Rinoa."

"Harry." He looked around. "Say...where is this, anyway?" Rinoa looked at him oddly. "I'm not...from around here, you could say."

"Oh." Rinoa's smile returned. "You're about a half-mile north of Timber."

_Timber? Oh bugger, I had hoped I was done...so let's see..._ "Timber, huh...I suppose that there's some big government you're trying to overthrow?"

Rinoa's demeanor instantly switched from open friendliness to a guarded, suspicion, as she began to reach for the trigger on her launcher weapon.

Harry hurriedly raised his hands in a 'peace' gesture. "Hey, hey! I'm not going to turn you in or anything!"

"How did you find out?"

"Honestly? I took a guess."

"A guess?"

"Yeah. I always find myself caught up in things like that. Save the world from a megalomaniac...stop an electric company from draining the Planet so dry the Planet actually dries...save said Planet from a incoming Meteor...things like that," Harry rattled off. He _really_ didn't want his first contact with the civilization of this new world to end with his making enemies. Though at the confused look on Rinoa's face, he added, "It's, er...a long story."

"They always are," Rinoa sniped.

Harry blinked and chuckled at that. "True dat. You want the Cliff's Notes version?"

"The what?"

_This is going to take a while..._

* * *

"How are you feeling?"

"...Okay."

"Take it easy next time, you hear?" The doctor leaned down for a better look at her patient's eyes. "Looks like your eyes are focusing. You should be fine. Say your name for me."

"...Squall."

The doctor nodded and stood straight once more. "Why don't you take it easy in training? Next time you might not be so lucky."

"Tell that to Seifer."

"That Seifer...Won't listen to anyone. Why don't you just ignore him?"

"I can't just run away."

"You wanna be cool, huh?" The doctor shrugged, shook her head, and raised her hands in a 'What can you do?' gesture. "Well, don't get hurt in the process." She walked over to her terminal. "Let's see, your instructor is...Quistis! I'll call her now. Just wait here a minute."

The doctor left the view of the screen, but a text box popped up. "Quistis? Come get your student. Yes, yes...His injury's not serious. It'll probably leave a scar, though...right, now please come by."

A girl dressed in blues and greens looks down at the injured fighter through one of the windows in the infirmary. "Squall...so, we meet again."

Squall turns his head to look, but the girl was already gone...and in her place, walking around to his bedside, was a blonde woman in a peach dress and a stiff-looking bun. "I knew it'd either be you or Seifer."

"...Instructor."

"Come on, let's go. Today's the field exam." Qustis beckoned Squall from the infirmary, and they walk together down the hall. Quistis broke the silence. "Squall...is there something on your mind?" A pause, then in almost perfect sync with her student, "Not really."

Squall scowled at her laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Funny? No, no, it's not that!" Quistis shook her head, smiling. "I'm just happy. I feel like I'm finally beginning to understand my student a little. That's all."

"I'm more complex than you think."

"Then tell me. Tell me more about yourself."

"It's none of your..."

"...Business!" Qustis finished, laughing. Squall facepalmed.

Ron and Remus glanced at each other, shrugged, and turned back to the screen, not saying a word, but both thinking the same thing.

_These people are nutters._

* * *

"So...Galbadia is oppressing Timber, and while there are a bunch of resistance groups, you guys are the only active ones right now," Harry summarized. He was now on board - again - a train. And after a rigorous interrogation, Rinoa and her two highest subordinates Zone and Watts had come to believe that Harry was not a Galbadian spy, and was genuininely interested in helping. "But you don't have the manpower to do anything beyond some recon."

"Right!"

_Wow...this is an even worse situation than what Avalanche was in when I joined them against Shinra..._ "Okay...so what's the plan?"

"Er...plan?"

_This is going to take a while..._

* * *

Squall and Quistis approached the center of a magma-filled cavern. "I guess I was right," Quistis commented. "You and Seifer are in a class of your own. You both have amazing strength and potential." They reached the back of the cave. "Ok, this is it. Are you ready?" Squall waved her question off as he reloaded his gunblade. "You seem confident enough."

A large red demonic beast rises from the hole and attacks. Squall smirked briefly before casting Blizzard, the ice chunk slammed into the monster's maw. "Impudent humans!" the demon growled, arrogantly brushing past Quistis' whip to send her to the back of the cavern with a punch.

"Instructor!" Squall's eyes narrowed slightly in professional concern - Instructor Trepe was a capable ally, and as strong as he was, Squall didn't particularly care to test himself against Ifrit without backup. Thankfully, he wasn't as alone as he thought as he danced back from a Fira spell. "Come, Shiva!"

An icy wind blew through the cavern as an icicle crashed into the battleground between Squall and Ifrit. Shiva's form appeared and shattered the ice around her before facing off against her elemental opposite.

"They have Shiva!" Ifrit breathed, smoke curling from his nostrils as he blinked in surprise.

Shiva smirked in response before blanketing the battlefield with ice several feet thick, steam billowing where the ice and snow met magma, before with a snap of her fingers, Shiva's Diamond Dust brought Ifrit staggering to his knees.

Ifrit breathed heavily, sending plumes of smoke and ash into the air. "For me to lose to a human...very well, I will join you."

Squall nodded and made a gesture, drawing Ifrit's fading form into a fire-red gemstone about half the size of his gloved palm. He turned to Quistis - the instructor was getting to her feet, hand glowing with a Cure spell. "Are you hurt, Instructor?"

Quistis flashed a brief smile. "Why, Squall, showing concern for others? I think the world is ending."

Squall snorted with a scowl. "It is a professional concern for a teammate. Nothing more."

Quistis obviously didn't believe him, but didn't press the issue. "I'm fine, nothing a Cure or two couldn't fix. Now, there isn't much time, but let me go over this real quick..."

* * *

Harry tilted his head at Rinoa. "You want to hire mercenaries?"

Rinoa nodded. "Yes. You said it yourself, we lack serious manpower."

"Why not band all the different resistance groups together?"

Rinoa huffed, crossing her arms remarkably like Hermione when she was attempting to explain something to Harry and Ron. "The different groups have different specialties. The Wolves, for example, are excellent at getting others out of sight of the Galbadians."

"All the more reason for everyone to work together, instead of acting independantly," Harry argued. "I'm not saying you have to try and fit everyone on this three-car train, but you should at least be able to communicate with everyone at once, and work together."

"We don't have anywhere large enough to meet with everyone...and still be hidden from the Galbadian forces, Harry. That's why we have to keep our groups small and mostly separate," Rinoa replied.

Harry rubbed at his temple. "Fine, whatever. Hire those mercenaries if you want to."

"SeeDs."

"Whatever." _This is going to take a while...Oh, wow, talk about deja vu..._

* * *

"Whoa! I'm with you!"

This was spoken by a young man with a hairstyle that those watching the screen immediately likened to Cloud's from the previous world. Cloud, however, didn't have a tribal tattoo on the left side of his face, nor did he show the capability to hand spring into a backflip - that was more Tifa's area of expertise.

Squall pointedly ignored the martial artist, named Zell. Zell withdrew his offered hand after a moment. "You don't get along with Seifer, do you? Heard he whooped you pretty bad this morning."

"We weren't fighting. We were training." Squall was taciturn. _As usual,_ Quistis noted with a smirk.

"I bet you he doesn't think so," Zell went on, oblivious to the growing scowl on Squall's face. "Look, Seifer's just being a pain in the ass. All you have to do is ignore him."

"That's none of your business." This was said, again in nearly perfect sync, by Squall and Quistis. The cadet facepalmed; the Instructor chuckled and shook her head. "Ahem...excuse me, but...that Seifer you're talking about...He's your squad leader."

"Say WHAT!" Zell exploded.

"It can't be changed. Seifer! Are you here?" Qustis called over the din.

Seifer came sauntering up, flanking by two others - a stupid-looking goon with a heavy bo staff strapped to his back, and a young white-haired woman with an eye patch and a chakram on her belt. _Fujin and Raijin tagging along as usual,_ Squall commented to himself. _Guess that makes up the whole disciplinary committee._

Quistis turned to Seifer. "You're the squad leader. Good luck to you."

"Instructor. I hate it when people wish me luck," Seifer drawled. "Save those words for a bad student that needs them, eh?"

"Okay, then." Quistis adjusted her glasses and pinned Seifer with a pointed stare. "Good luck, Seifer."

Ron and Remus chuckled at that.

* * *

"Okay, so..." Harry looked over Rinoa's request to Garden. "This looks good. Let's send it in." _Can't say a professional organization of mercenaries will be likely to accept a request for so little money, though...but I reckon I should keep that to myself._

* * *

"Well, these are the members of Squad B," Quistis introduced the SeeD operative on the vessel to do the briefing. Squall and Zell stood at attention, murmuring the polite greetings. The SeeD, Xu, turned to Seifer, who stubbornly remained sitting, his feet on the table.

"Seifer...how many times has it been, now?"

Seifer smirked and waved. "Oh, you know I just love these exams."

Xu rolled her eyes before standing next to the monitor. "I'll explain the current situation and the mission. Be seated!" Squall and Zell sat. "Our client for this mission is the Dollet Dukedom Parliamt. A request for SeeD assistance was made eighteen horus ago. Dollat has been under attack by the G-Army since about seventy-two hours ago. Forty-nine horus into the battle, Dollet abandoned their position in the inner city. Currently, they have retreated into the nearby mountains and are reorganizing their troops. That's the current status, now onto the mission objective...

"According to our reports, the G-Army is mopping up the Dollet troops in the mountain region. We're to make a landing at Lapin Beach and eliminate the remaining G-Army within the city and liberate it A.S.A.P. Afterwards, SEeD members will intercept any G-Army forces trying to make their way into the city from the mountain region."

"So, what are _we_ supposed to do?" Seifer asked.

"SeeD candidates are to eliminate teh G-Army inside the city," Xu replied.

"Sounds important!" Zell clenched his fist.

"Sounds boring," Seifer countered. "So what you're saying is, we do all the little dirty work..."

Xu ignored that after a moment. "Oh, it hardly needs to be said, but...The order to withdraw takes priority. Do not forget. We're almost there. We anticipate a battle as soon as we disembarked. Just be prepared. That's all; any questions, talk to Quistis."

* * *

"Rejected!" Rinoa breathed.

Harry shrugged in a 'what can you do?' gesture. "They might not want to risk personelle for so little money..."

"But it's all we have right now...monsters don't just drop Gil when you kill them, you know!"

_They did in the last...game world...I was in. Must work a bit differently here._ "Well, I suppose you could try meeting the Headmaster of the...Garden?...in person. It is harder to say 'no' to someone's face than to a piece of paper..."

Rinoa brightened considerably. "That's a great idea, Harry!"

_...What have I done now?_

* * *

"There you are!" a soprano voice called out, startling Squall and Zell. They turned to watch as a girl with short, flared-out-at-the-tips hair climbs over a pile of rocks...only to slip, go into a short tumble, and land on her bottom in front of them. "Eh heh..." She laughed nervously.

"And I thought Tonks was clumsy..." Ron quipped, earning a head-slap from the Metamorphagus in question.

"Are you...Squad B? Wait a minute...You're the guy who showed me around, right!" she asked Squall. "Thanks! I don't get so lost anymore. Oh, yeah, I haven't told you my name yet. I'm...a messenger. Name's Selphie, from Squad A." She rambled as she stood up, dusting herself off. "The squad captain's Seifer, right? Where is he?"

Seifer appeared down at the entrance of a satellite tower, several yards away and a fair few down. "One of these days, I'm gonna tell ya 'bout my ROMANTIC dream!"

Ron eyed Tonks warily. "That guy's mad, innit he?"

Tonks smothered a smirk while Ginny answered. "Really wouldn't surprise me..."

* * *

Harry soon found that, like many young girls, Rinoa...liked to shop. And...she knew how to shop. That is to say, she knew how to get the best price on whatever it was she wanted, or how to mix different items to near-perfectly emulate an item out of her price range.

Either way, the shopkeep gave Harry a sympathetic glance as the dark-haired brunette dragged the transplanted wizard through the store by his arm.

Watts quickly discovered that Garden would be holding a graduation ceremony for its newest SeeD graduates, and even managed to obtain a couple of invitations for Rinoa. There would, of course, be dancing, and so Rinoa would need a date for the evening.

Which led to Harry's current predictament. Zone and Watts, disguise and information gathering specialists, respectively, were not suited field work that involved real, social interaction. The same could be said for the three tech guys in the back - and besides which, they were busy creating something to be used at a later time. So Harry was nominated (read: voluntold) to be Rinoa's date to the Graduation Ball.

And of course, one shouldn't go to a ball dressed in casual, everyday-wear. And since Harry only had his jeans, shirt, and outer robe to wear, a shopping trip was a necessity as he would need some new duds. This also served to make Rinoa's day, as there was a new dress she'd had her eye on but didn't have a valid excuse for splurging for it...until now.

Rinoa had enlisted one of the employees for help in designed Harry's new outfit. Harry tried not to fidget under their scrutinizing eyes, feeling rather a lot like a specimen under a scientist's microscrope.

Without so much as a warning, the two girls leapt into action, pulling various shirts and slacks off of hangars and shoving them into Harry's arms while pushing him into the changing room. With a sigh, Harry began to change.

* * *

"What do you think you're doing?" Squall asked of a red-clad Galbadian who, upon hearing Squall's question behind him, jumped nearly a foot in the air and whirled around, most of his tools flying from the platform and toward the ground below.

"Huhhh! Likewise, MISTER! What do you think you're doing!" Squall raised his eyebrow, crossing his arms. The G-soldier gulped. "H-HEY! What happened to all the soldiers down below!" A second's silence, then..."WEDGE! Take care of these twerps!" Several seconds pass. "W-Wedge?"

Ron, Ginny, Tonks, and Hermione couldn't help but laugh as the G-soldier captioned 'Biggs' started stammering. "I...ah...well...ah...I seem to be done here, so I'll just be on mywayu...I-I'm leaving! Move move move!" He started to shove past the cadets, only for Seifer to appear and bat the assault rifle from his hand.

"Sorry to crash the party."

Biggs growled. "Aah ah aaah! Are you crazy!"

Seifer pushed his short bangs from his face. "Just...shut up, will ya?"

Biggs attacked, moving surprisingly quick with that right cross...but Seifer merely leaned back and kicked him toward the other cadets. Zell spun and with a roundhouse, knocked Biggs toward Squall, who introduced the soldier to the flat side of his Revolver's blade. Selphie, meanwhile, swung her giant nunchaku out and clocked a blue-dressed G-soldier over the head. Both G-soldiers were downed, and it barely took all of five seconds.

"...Pathetic," Seifer commented.

Whatever else Seifer might have said, he never got to say it, as a winged, pink and brown creature descended upon them. "What the hell is it?" Zell asked.

"Whatever it is, we need to dispatch it," Squall remarked, pulling the hammer back on his gunblade. "Let's go."

Squall and Zell took point. punching, kicking, and slashing through the monster's defenses, while Selphie hung back and blasted it with Fire and Thunder spells. While Seifer...just hung back and watched.

"Shouldn't he be helping his comrades?" Hermione asked.

"He's an ass, Hermione," Ron replied.

"Language, Ron!"

Despite Seifer's...less than helpful contribution, Squall, Selphie, and Zell soon beat the beast down. It dissolved and faded from view, leaving behind a small, soft-pink stone that was in the vague shape of a musical note. Selphie squatted down to pick it up and slide it into her pocket for later examination before turning to Seifer. "Squad B Captain? S'cuse me! I have new orders!"

"...So what are they?" Clearly patience was not one of Seifer's personality traits.

"All SeeD members and SeeD candidates are to withdraw at nineteen hunder horus. Assemble at the shore!"

"Withdraw!" Seifer blinked. "There are still enemies around!"

"I know," Selphie replied, "but I'm just a messenger."

"An order to withdraw takes priority. I don't want to miss the vessel," Squall supplied.

Seifer grunted. "What time d'you say again?"

"Like I said!" Selphie huffed. "All SeeD members and SeeD candidates are to withdraw at ninteen hundreed hours. Assemble at the shore!"

"Nineteen hundred hours...?" Seifer checked his watch. "We only have thirty minutes! You got thirty minutes to get down to the shore! Better run!" With that, he jumped onto the elevator and rode it down, without waiting for the others.

"Heeey! WEait for us!" Selphie shouted.

"Who the hell does he think he is!" Zell raged.

The elevator, now empty, clicked back into place next to them. "Why don't you ask him?" Squall deadpanned. "Let's go."

* * *

Harry lost count of the number of outfits Rinoa and the shop girl (who had introduced herself as Yuffie) made him try on before they were finally satisfied. He now owned a very snazzy tuxedo jacket to go over a forest green undershirt ("the hint of green will draw out your eyes, cutie" - that was said by Yuffie. Naturally, Harry blushed, and naturally, the girls both giggled). The black dress slacks went with the black leather shoes, and Rinoa had found a dark red tie that went well with the green - according to the girls, anyway.

For herself, Rinoa had homed in on a strapless off-white cocktail dress that glittered and sparkled in the light and came with matching high heels (Harry sincerely hoped they wouldn't need to fight, run, or any other strenuous activity, those heels were awfully _skinny_). Needless to say, when Rinoa modeled it, Harry had to admit that she looked downright _stunning_.

Rinoa laughed, and teasingly asked, "Aren't you interested, Harry?"

Harry blushed, but quipped back, "I'd be thick not to be, Rinoa. But what about you? Are _you_ interested?" He punctuated his question with 'muscular' poses.

His antics succeeded, as the girls started laughing. A few minutes later, Rinoa and Yuffie were still giggling as their purchases were rung up and paid for. Rinoa ruffled Harry's hair like she would a younger brother - this led Harry to ask how she thought she could get away with that, being two years his junior. Rinoa laughed and replied that women matured, on average, three years ahead of men, and thus she was more than qualified to play the 'big sister' card on him. Harry scowled, unable to come up with a proper response to that.

* * *

Squall swerved around the thrust of the giant spider-bot's extremely sharp, pointed leg and brought his gunblade down with an overhead swing, the blade, empowered by a timely pull of the gunblade's trigger, and further boosted by a Thunder spell junctioned to the sword, ripped through the face armor plating of the bot. Squall jumped back as the combat mech staggered and fell.

"Let's get the hell outta here!" Zell shouted. Squall nodded agreement and the three cadets turned tail and fled down the path. They'd barely made it a hundred meters before the mech shuddered and stood up, and began to gain on them. "The hell!" Zell cried. "I thought we already busted that thing up!"

"Forget it! Let's go!" Squall commanded. They continued to run, dodged the robot's attempts to engage them in battle again, including doubling back slightly when the mech leapt over to cut them off as they sprinted across a bridge toward the town. The three cadets flashed through the square, startling a stray dog into bolting to safety, the mech hot on their tail as it tore through parked vehicles in its way.

Selphie and Zell began to pull ahead as they neared the beach where their vessels were waiting for them. They leapt down, rolled as they hit the sand, and kept running without missing a beat. The mech launched a missile at Squall, the close miss meaning the missile utterly destroying the arch over the street. The force of the explosion sent Squall flying out over the sand, and he hit the dirt with a "whumphf." Squall forced himself to his feet after a second...but a second was all the robot needed to clear the rubble and land on the beach behind him.

"C'mon, Squall!" Zell beckoned, Selphie looking back their fellow cadet from behind Zell on the vessel, which was already starting to pull away from the beach. Squall made a diving lunge for the hatch as gatling gun fire erupted...from above the vessel.

Quistis growled as she held the rotating cannon steady. "Attack my students, will you?" The Instructor aimed the gatling gun, her sharp shooting dismantling the bot and knocking it off the vessel as it began to mount in its pursuit.

Zell gripped the back of Squall's cadet uniform as he was half-in, half-out the vessel. With the martial artist's help, Squall was able to pull himself up and into the vessel. His last view of the combat mech before the hatch closed was it collapsing to the beach and exploding.

"Close, huh?" Zell mused.

Squall didn't respond.

* * *

Harry and Rinoa, clad in their new formal wear, were in a spacious passenger car as the train they were on rumbled down the tracks toward the town of Balamb. "So, Harry...you know how to dance, right?"

Harry winced. "I have danced before...But I don't claim to dance well."

Rinoa laughed. "Oh, do tell!"

"Well...my school had a tournament with two other schools in my fourth year, consisting of three competitions. However, around Christmas, a ball was held to promote good sportsmanship and friendly relations with the other schools. Those competing, along with their dates, were to open the dance after the meal," Harry summarized. "I...was a little slow on asking the girl I wanted to go with, but I managed to find a date...but she was so much better than I." He grimaced, much to Rinoa's amusement. "Let's me just say that I felt like I was a show dog she was putting through his paces."

"Heehee...I can just see the look that had to have been on your face," Rinoa giggled. Harry scowled, causing Rinoa to giggle a bit more before catching her breath. "All right...okay. C'mon..." she stood up, and pulled Harry to his feet by the hands. "I'll teach you."

"Eh!"

_This is going to take a while..._ Rinoa mused, not knowing she was repeating Harry's thoughts earlier the day before.

* * *

Seifer hopped out of the boat to much welcoming from Fujin and Raijin. "SEIFER!" the taller, dark-skinned man called. "How'd it go, ya know?"

"Man...all they did was get in my way," Seifer complained loudly. "Being a leader ain't easy."

"SAFE?" Fujin barked. Succinct as usual, it seemed. Seifer nodded, and they walked toward the parking lot as Quistis led Squall, Zell, and Selphie off the boat and onto the dock.

"GOod job!" the Instructor remarked. She blinked. "Where's Seifer?"

Squall, looking to the lot, saw the aforementioned blonde and motioned in his direction. Quistis sighed. "Just be back at Garden by sundown. You're free 'til then. OK, dimissed."

Zell darted toward the lot as Seifer and his crew hop into the Garden car and took off, tires squealling. "H-Hey! Not again, man!" He growled. "There goes Mr. Ego..."

"Might as well walk it..." Squall commented. Resting his gunblade over his shoulder, he started the walk back to Garden, a fuming Zell and an energetic Selphie following in his wake.

* * *

Chapter One complete!

Harry: You're ending the chapter here?

Sure. It covers all the main points before Squall's party encounters Rinoa, except for perhaps the introductory fight between Squall and Seifer. And since we never see what Rinoa is up to the day before and the day of the Graduation ball, I got to take a little liberty and have some fun.

Sirius: And Yuffie?

Got a cameo appearance since I wasn't able to get in her in Meteor Crisis.

Yuffie: I SOOO need a bigger role! After all, I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!


	2. Dances And Negotiations

Huuwahaah! So who's ready for chapter two?

Harry:...Lame.

Shut it! Anyway, sorry about the delay, but FF8 Cid's character is...difficult...to portray.

* * *

Rinoa proved to be a decent dance instructor, as Harry soon learned to dance a few of the most popular dance steps, and dance them well. Harry certainly had to admit it was more fun than dancing with Parati back in fourth year at the Yule Ball.

"So, you think you've got it?" Rinoa asked as they sat down - the train was about to pull into Balamb Rail Station, thus necessitating that they take their seats or risk falling off their feet.

"No problem!" Harry grinned.

Rinoa smiled. "Good! That confidence will attract all the pretty girls at the ball," she started laughing as Harry started to redden.

"Naah..." Any further conversation was cut short as the train's brakes were applied, bringing the train to a grinding halt.

Grabbing their overnight bags - they would spend the night after the ball in a hotel room in Balamb before grabbing an early train back to Timber - Harry and Rinoa's disembarking from the train went smoothly...at least until Rinoa smiled and manhandled Harry into a shop by the train station. "Ah! Rinoa!"

"I was looking for one of these, but the Junk Shop in Timber was closed," Rinoa grumbled something about 'lousy Galbadians' before continuing. "But...Balamb's Junk Shop always has some neat stuff."

"Er, I don't think we came here to shop, Rinoa," Harry protested. "Especially not a junk store."

Rinoa swatted Harry's arm. "Not a junk store. A Junk Shop. There's a difference!"

"Yeah, about all of three or four letters," Harry deadpanned.

Rinoa huffed. "You can find just about anything in Junk Shop - medicines, odds and ends, nicks and nacks...and if you have right items, you can upgrade your weapons."

"So it's more like a oddities store that offers repair and upgrades," Harry reasoned.

"...It's a Junk Store," Rinoa argued. "Anyway!" She led Harry into the store and pulled out the item that had caught her eye. It was an almost-black leather scabbard, with a number of semi-precious stones inlaid along the sides. And it was a suprisingly good fit for Gryffindor's Sword. "Not to mention it just plain looks better than that old string and denim thing you threw together."

The other thing about Junk Stores, Harry found, was that it also doubled as a general store. The sheath Rinoa had picked up for Harry to use, if they had gone to a store that specialized in sheaths, scabbards, and other weapon carrying equipment, would have easily cost half again what they paid for it at the Junk Store. And since it was crafted by the Junk Store owner himself, rather than mass produced, it was a higher quality to boot!

Harry slid his sword into the scabbard as they left. "So, what did we learn today?" Rinoa asked.

"Always shop at the General and Oddities Store," Harry quipped.

"It's called a Junk Store!"

* * *

The party was in full swing. Harry and Rinoa had already danced a few of the sets, but now they were spending more of their time looking for the Headmaster of Balamb Garden.

Harry's eyes roved around the expansive hall - it easily dwarfed the Great Hall at Hogwarts, he mused, his eyes landing briefly on a young brown-haired man leaning against the wall alone, watching the ball from his small alcove. Harry's gaze moved on before the bloke's own look landed on him before an exuberant blonde with a facial tattoo talked to him.

Harry looked around the floor again. "Should we ask around, you reckon?"

"Might not be a bad idea, Harry," Rinoa replied. "See you later?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded and moved off. Rinoa smiled slightly when her eyes met the SeeD Harry had noticed earlier, and she began to walk over.

"Oh! Hey, Zell, Wanna join the Garden Festival committee and..." a short brunette began in a soprano.

"Sorry, I...ahh...just remembered something!" the energetic blonde from earlier backed away. "G-Gotta go. See ya!"

"Hmm..."

Harry rolled his eyes, grinning...until he lightly bumped into a serious-looking female SeeD with a stern-seeming bun of blonde hair. "Er...I'm sorry."

Slightly startled by him, the woman blinked for a moment before smiling softly. "It's alright. It is a touch crowded in here."

Harry nodded at that. "Folks like to party, I reckon."

"They do at that." A pause, then. "I'm Quistis Trepe. I'm an In..well, a SeeD at this Garden."

"Harry. I...well, I'm hanging out in Timber at the moment," Harry replied.

"Oh? Is Timber still trying for their independance from Galbadia?" Quistis queried.

"Yeah. It's a right mess," Harry nodded. The band started in on a new song, something of a waltz similar to in steps to one Rinoa had taught him on the train. "I don't reckon I could get a dance?" Harry asked, grinning.

Quistis chuckled. "It would be my pleasure."

Harry and Quistis stepped out onto the floor. Harry took the lead, confident in his ability to dance thanks in large part to Rinoa's coaching on the train and earlier dances that evening. Quistis seemed to enjoy his efforts, at least - her smile seemed more, well, _real_ as opposed to the faux-smile she had worn earlier as she watched the dancers step across the door.

_Rinoa was right...women **do** enjoy a good dance. Why couldn't I have learned to dance before the Yule Ball in fourth year? It would have so much more enjoyable than playing Parvati's show dog..._

Harry's musing, and their dance, was interrupted as they were jostled rather heavily by another couple. Harry blinked, surprised to note it was Rinoa and a familiar-looking brown-haired man.

"Rinoa?"

The girl playfully poked her tongue out at Harry before leading her dance partner away to resume dancing. Harry rolled his eyes, turning back to his own partner.

Quistis seemed to frown for a moment before turning back to Harry. "Your date?"

Harry nodded. "A friend of mine." Harry led the SeeD into the next set of steps. "You?"

Quistis chuckled, shaking her head. It didn't sound particularly...amusing. "No...Squall...was one of my students. He's among the graduating SeeDs tonight. I'm quite proud of him, though he is quite the lone wolf."

_More than that, I reckon,_ Harry thought to himself as he twirled Quistis around the floor. "You sound surprised to see him dancing."

"That would be because I am," Quistis confirmed. "In fact...had there been any way for him to escape coming, Squall would likely remain either in his dormroom or in the Training Center." She seemed to pause a moment, though that could have just been because they separated as part of the dance. Either way, when they came back together, Quistis continued. "He will make one of our best SeeDs, but sometimes I think he could do with some lightening up."

"Ah. He's in good hands with Rinoa, then," Harry grinned.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Rinoa's the kind to relate to anyone," the transported wizard explained. Then he chuckled. "At least until you threaten her dog."

The song ended to a fair bit of appreciative applause from the dancers, Harry and Quistis included. "Say, Qusitis...Rinoa and I were looking for the Headmaster earlier. Do you happen to know where he is?"

Quistis nodded, beckoning him to follow her. "Yes. Headmaster Cid is over this way. Please come with me, I'll take you right to him."

"Thank you." _Cid, huh? He wouldn't be a trash-talking, chain-smoking forties-something pilot, would he?_

* * *

Headmaster Cid was not, in fact, a trash-talking, chain-smoking forties-something pilot. Rather, this Cid appeared to be pushing sixty, slightly overweight, and wearing a tweed vest over his long-sleeved shirt. Harry had managed to snag Rinoa before Quistis left them to talk with the Headmaster.

"You wanted to speak to me, Miss...?"

"Oh, yes. My name is Rinoa Heartilly, and this is Harry Potter," Rinoa introduced. "I sent in a request for SeeD support the other day, for the Timber Forest Owls?"

Cid got a bit of a faraway look in his eye as he recalled the request. "Oh, yes, I do recall a request from your Owls. Is there a problem?"

"Well...we were denied, and I was hoping I could speak with you about it," Rinoa explained.

"Hm...yes. Well, you see, I do not see every request that is made to SeeD, Ms. Heartilly," Cid replied. "Even without all my other responsibilities as Headmaster, personally looking over every request Garden receives would be more than any one person could possibly handle. So I am afraid I am unfamiliar with your particular request beyond seeing in on a list on rejected requests." When Rinoa's expression fell, however, he added, "However, I do have the authority to ovverride the decision on any request I deem necessary to do so. Why don't you tell me about why you requested SeeD support?"

Rinoa brightened almost immediately. "Well, we're one of the many resistance groups in Timber fighting for our independance from Galbadia...and the Owls is really the only active group at the moment. We've been doing some recon and information passing, but we'd like to do more. And as Harry here pointed out, we simply don't have the manpower to do so."

Cid looked over to Harry. "I see. How many people are with the Owls, then?"

"Counting Rinoa and myself, sir...seven," Harry supplied.

"...Seven?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "Seven. I suggested to Rinoa that the resistance groups should integrate and work together more than they do, but she didn't know of a place where the heads of the group could meet and still be hidden from the Galbadian forces."

"I understand. Do you know why your request was denied, then?"

Rinoa bit her lip. "We think it's because we can't offer a...lot...of money. We're not very big..."

"That is no matter," Cid waved that off. "A country's right to self-rule is important." He beckoned them away from the ballroom. "Come with me to my office, we'll draw uip a contract right away."

"Really!" Rinoa gasped.

Cid chuckled. "Really really."

* * *

Cid slid a sheet of printer paper across the lacquered desk to them. Harry picked it up and read it, Rinoa reading over his shoulder. "...'Balamb Garden (hereafter referred to as "Party A") acknowledges the "Forest Owls" (hereafter referred to as "Party B") as the hiring party. SeeD (Hereafter referring to as "Party C") shall be dispatched upon signing of this contract. Party C shall operate under the supervision..." Harry trailed off.

"I don't get it," Rinoa frowned, rubbing her forehead like she had a headache.

Cid nodded. "Yes...our 'official' contract is full of legal jargon. I don't care for it either, I'm afraid." He tapped a few keys and another sheet printed out for them. "Here, this is a much more simplified version of the same contract." Rinoa picked this one up, and this time Harry was reading over her shoulder. The contract read...

**To the Forest Owls**

**This SeeD deployment contract will last until Timber achieves independance. Please make good use of each SeeD member.**

**I wish you the best with your objective. Please understand that this contract is an exception, and no replacement of seeD members can be made.**

**Balamb Garden Headmaster Cid Kramer.**

"...So you'll send some SeeDs to help us out?" Rinoa asked slowly, as if she couldn't quite believe it.

Cid nodded. "Correct. I'm afraid I cannot send a veritable army, Ms. Heartilly, but even a small strike team can be effective...sometimes even more so than a mass show of force."

Harry thought back to AVALANCHE. _Yeah, there's some truth in that._

Cid continued. "I will dispatch a team in the morning; you can expect them shortly after noon. Do you have a contact for them to meet?"

Rinoa nodded and looked at Harry. The young wizard rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll keep an eye out for them."

"When you see them, you'll have to say 'The forests of Timber sure have changed,'" Rinoa commented. "If they're the SeeDs, they are to say 'But the Owls are still around.'"

Harry stared at her. "...Are you serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Harry felt a headache coming on. _Oi..._

* * *

I always thought that bit of dialogue was utterly stupid...half the time I chose the wrong response on purpose just to watch Watts nearly get run over by the train.


	3. Meeting the SeeDs, of Revolution

Sirius: WHERE. HAVE. YOU. BEEN!?

*dryly* Locked in a gloriously epic wrestling match with writer's block. Odd for this type of story, but there you go. Also I was busy with real life issues like making rent and such things. Poor people stuff, Sirius, you wouldn't understand.

Harry: Along with playing Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2...Dark Souls...both of the Batman games now out...and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. And World of Warcraft.

Gotta have downtime to unwind from work.

Rinoa: He also just finished moving, and still is unpacking!

Thank you, Rinoa. Now, since I also seem to have misplaced what I had begun of chapter two...and am past that point in the game...let's see how much of Squall's arrival in Timber and boarding the Forest Owls' train HQ I can remember...

~HP&SEHP&SEHP&SE~

Harry sighed for the umpteenth time into his Timber Maniacs magazine as he waited on the train. This is bonkers. Utterly, bloody, bonkers. What the bloody hell was I thinking for joining up with the Owls again?

The train pulled up. Finally. Harry's back promptly informed him he'd been sitting on this bench reading the same page of the same paper for the majority of the morning, and it was quite fed up with it. Harry didn't look up as footsteps approached, but he did clearly mutter in an undertone, "Oh, the forests of Timber sure have changed."

"But the Owls are still around."

Yay. I can finally get up off this bench. "You ever do something so painful as this in your life?" Harry looked up...into the blue eyes of Rinoa's dance partner. And the protagonist arrives.

A slight smirk. "Dancing. Last night."

"Funny, seemed to me you enjoyed holding my date pretty close last night," Harry quipped, causing the spikey-haired blonde behind the apparent leader to cough hastily to hide his sniggering.

Obviously deigning not to dignify that with a response, the brown-haired teenager just waited for Harry to lead them to the Owls. Harry stood up, stretching a bit to pop his back, back into proper alignment, and crossed the tracks, beckoning them to follow him. An older train engine pulled up on one of the tracks, coming to a halt amidst the other trains; it was to this one, that Harry lead the SeeDs onto. Once the four of them were aboard, the train took off into the country side once more.

An awkward silence ensued. Well, it felt awkward to Harry. Fortunately for him, it was Zone who broke the silence. "So, you guys are SeeDs?"

Nice, Zone, Harry mentally commented with the appropriate eye roll. Frankly, Harry had been forced to conclude, as far as resistance groups go...he'd take AVALANCHE over the Forest Owls any day. Really. The Forest Owls sounded more like a Quidditch team than a resistance group.

"I'm the squad leader, Squall," the black-clad teen replied. He motioned to the spikey-haired blonde in cargo jeans shorts and a black and red t-shirt, before the brunette with green eyes in a yellow tube-style dress. "This is Zell, and Selphie."

Zone offered his Squall his hand. "Nice to meet ya. I'm Zone, leader of the Forest Owls." Squall ignored his outstretched hand for a moment, before giving him a curt nod.

Harry suppressed a snigger as Zone awkwardly lowered his hand. Selphie accepted the shake when offered, though. Zell stuck his hand out when Zone finished with his brunette comrade, but, was left hanging when Zone turned back to the SeeD leader. Harry was forced to suppress another snigger.

"So, let's get on with it," Squall commented. "What do we do?"

"Just take it easy," Zone answered. "Here, let me introduce you. Looks like you already met Harry."

Harry gave a short wave as Zell huffed. "Yo."

"And that's Watts," Zone nodded to the yellowed vested, bandana wearing, overly polite member of the Owls. He gave a wave as well. "I guess it's just our princess, then."

Harry still hadn't figured out where the nickname originated, but Rinoa could live up to the moniker when she wanted to. Harry had great fun ribbing her about it, though. LIke now, for instance, as he snarked, "Ah, but it's Her Highness' Royal Nap Time."

Zell and Selphie looked amused by his snarkiness. Squall just looked taciturn.

"Ah, man..." Zone groaned. He turned to the SeeD leader. Harry winced as the Head Owl asked, "Hey Squall, sorry, but could you go get the princess? She'll be in the last room up those stairs. Some of our guys are in the - "

Harry cut him off. "It's a simple corridor, Zone, I'm sure he wouldn't have trouble finding the last room at the end." At least I managed to save him from insulting the SeeDs by calling them 'stupid.'

None of the SeeDs looked happy with Zone either. Squall gave him a particularly sharp look as he crossed his arms. "...Were we hired to run errands? Well?"

Zone stepped back quickly, like he was struck. "A-Are you angry!?"

"No, Zone, he's just really excited. See, it's his lifelong dream to be a messenger boy," Harry snarked. How did I end up working with these morons again? Rinoa's the only one with any common sense, and that's not saying a whole lot either. "Heeere's your sign."

Sarcasm was apparently the one brand of humor Squall seemed to appreciate if the momentary quirk of his lips was any indication. He quelled it and shot another look at Zone. "This is the last time for this kind of thing."

Harry mentally counted down from three, and on cue, Zone knelt in the corner, hand over his abdomen as his 'ever-present' stomach-ache made itself known.

"Except for the black-haired dude, these guys don't seem to have it together..." Harry heard in a mutter from Zell. Harry caught his eye and nodded in an exasperated manner, as Squall headed up the stairs.

~HP&SE~

**Squall walked into the lavishly decorated - and pink - room as the train jolted to a halt.**

"Too pink," Ron breathed. "That is way too pink for a girl over the age of maybe eleven."

**The black-haired girl who was sleeping on the bed, woke with the jolt and sat up, her eyes landing on Squall. "Hey...You're...! You know, from the party...So...does that mean...you're a SeeD!?"**

"Hey, Hermione, what's the word the Americans use to describe women like her?" Ginny asked.

"Ditzy, I think."

"Thanks. Ditzy, that one."

**Squall nodded. "I'm Squall, the squad leader. There are two others with me."**

**"Yes! SeeD is here!" Rinoa pounced, causing Squall to reflexively catch her and swing her weight around in a half-circle to keep himself from getting bowled over.**

**"Take it easy," he commented as Rinoa stepped back.**

"Yeah, before you hurt someone with your exuberance," Ron quipped.

Ginny gave a look of mock-shock. "Wow, Ron, that was a big word!"

"Oi!"

Even Hermione couldn't pass up the ribbing on this occasion. "And he even used it in the correct context, too!" She mimed wiping a tear. "I'm so proud."

Ron just groaned and covered his face, his ears red.

**"It's just that, I'm so happy!" Rinoa replied. "I've been sending requests to Garden forever, but nothing...I'm so glad I spoke to Cid directly!"**

**"Oh," Squall realized. "So you were looking for the headmaster at the party?"**

**Rinoa shrugged. "You know Seifer?"**

**Squall nodded, slowly, looking away for a moment. "Yeah..."**

"You don't want to touch that rivalry with a ten foot pole, lass," Ginny commented idly. "It makes the one between Harry and Malfoy look friendly in comparison."

**"Well..."**

~HP&SE~

Harry leaned against the frame, and butted into the conversation between Squall and Rinoa. "He's nothing to do with it. It was an Instructor..." he paused, recalling. "Trepe, I think she said, who introduced us to Cid."

Rinoa flushed. "Well, Cid is such a nice man...What are you doing here, Harry?"

"Officially, I'm to bring you two to the briefing room..." and doesn't that room make me miss the Room of Requirement? "But mostly I wanted to make sure facts were kept straight." Harry smirked as Rinoa huffed. "Rinoa has a habit of speaking her mind...and whatever happens to be on it."

Rinoa mock glared back. "Remind me again why I let you in the Owls?"

"Because I'm the only one on the train, before the SeeDs came, who knew what the bloody hell I was doing?" Harry shot back smoothly.

"Knew there was a reason why I liked you," Squall quipped dryly to Harry.

"I'm flattered, mate, but I'm into birds, not blokes."

Squall blushed, and failed to hide it with a scowl as Rinoa was overcome with a fit fo giggling. In between her laughter, she managed to get out "Well, you heard, but I'm Rinoa." Once she calmed, Squall accepted her handshake. Harry rolled his eyes, already knowing that before everything was over, these two would end up together romantically. Rinoa gave Squall a speculative look. "SeeD members dance quite well, don't they?"

"Approach your target inconspicuously at a dance party...There may be missions requiring this sort of subterfuge," Squall deadpanned. "We're expected to learn various skills."

"Oh, so it's work related," Rinoa pouted. "That's too bad..." Harry sniggered, causing another glare to be thrown his way. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Not until you get there, Princess," harry shot back as Angelo padded in past him.

Squall took immediate notice of the dog. Rinoa squatted down to pet her partner. "Here, let my introduce you." She smiled up at Squall. "Angelo is really smart!"

"Rinoa's always teaching him new tricks from PetPals magazine," Harry explained.

Rinoa nodded, then addressed her canine friend. "I have some important work to do now. Be good, Angelo." She stood up, ignoring Angelo's plaintive whine. "See you there!" she tossed to Harry and Squall before hurrying down to the briefing room.

Harry rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm before beckoning Squall with a head motion. "It's back down the hall. I'll show you." Squall nodded and followed without a word.

Back with Zone, Watts, and the SeeDs, Squall introduced Rinoa to Zell and Selphie...in the same tome he used to introduce them to Zone and Watts and Harry. "This is Zell...and Selphie."

Naturally Rinoa made up for Squall's monotone by being her usual exuberant self. "Hi everyone!" She then opened the door to the so-called 'briefing room.' "This way!" Harry trooped in after everyone else, and took up a position leaning against the door frame after it slid shut behind him.

The room was long, and a bit narrow, maybe about three meters across. Most of the room was occupied by a table with two toy train sets on it, a set of model train cars on each track. Zone took center stage...metaphorically speaking. "Just stand anywhere you want." He waited a moment for everyone to settle, then began the briefing. "This is a full-scale operation. Our resistance, 'The Forest Owls,' will be forever known in the pages of Timber's independence!" Watts and Rinoa nodded. "Exciting, huh?"

It might have been, Zone...until you asked that question, Harry snorted to himself. From the looks on the SeeDs' faces, they were about as excited as Ron heading to History of Magic class; one he couldn't sleep through or play games of Hangman. Harry wisely decided to keep that thought to himself.

Zone began again after the awkward pause. "It all started when we got a hold of top-secret info from Galbadia."

"I got the info, sir!" Watts added.

Zone continued on as if Watts hadn't interrupted. "There's a V.I.P. from Galbadia coming to Timber."

"Super V-I-P!"

"The guy's name is Vinzer Deling! Our archenemy, and the President of Glabadia."

"Vinzer Deling is a scoundrel! He's a dictator, not a president. Not even popular in Galbadia, sir!"

Harry shook his head at the two before speaking up. "President Deling is taking a private train from the Galbadian capital."

Zone shot a look at Harry before resuming. "Our plan is to..."

Selphie butted in. "Blow it to smithereens with a rocket launcher!?"

"Would be easier...and simpler..." Harry murmured in an undertone.

Zone and Watts stepped back. "Ahh...not...quite..."

"So get to the point!" Zell growled, restless. "Just tell us what to do!"

"Shall we begin?" Rinoa asked, much to the relief of everyone. She gestured everyone to the model trains. "First, I'll go over the model. The yellow train on the left track is our 'base.' We're riding in it right now. Right next to it is the 'dummy car.' We made it to look just like the president's car." She moved to the right track. "Their train has three cars. First, there's the locomotive followed by the '1st escort.' The red car is the 'president's car.' Deling should be inside. The last car is the '2nd escort.' Once we get on this one, we begin the operation." She took a breath.

"Our ultimate goal is to seize the president in his car using our 'base.' Which means, we'll be switching our 'dummy car' with their 'president's car.' We'll be using the two switch points leading up to Timber to carry out this operation. Ok? Now, Harry will explain the procedure in seven steps."

It really does sound like the kinds of plans Ron, Hermione, and I concocted in school...Anyway, I'm up. "We'll get on the roof of the '2nd escort' by jumping from our 'dummy car.' The tracks will be close enough for us to make the jump. Next, we'll carefully cross the roof of the '2nd escort' - it has heat and movement sensors and a high-tech officer on board to operate them. Then, crossing the President's car won't be an issue - Deling hates the company of his guards and being surrounded by sensors, so he keeps them away from his car." Now Harry took a breath. "We'll uncouple the '1st escort' car before the first switchpoint." Here, Rinoa moved the model trains as a visual example, pulling the model Presiden'ts car back from the cars in front of it and pushing them ahead of the first switch point. "If we don't..."

"BOOM!" Selphie cut in again. "Game over, right?"

Harry nodded. "Right. So we need to move fast. Rinoa will go over the uncoupling process in a bit. Anyway, after we uncouple the cars, our base will move in, bringing the dummy car with it. At this point, both trains," as Rinoa linked all the cars together, "will be linked and moving together. Then, before the second switchpoint, we'll need to uncouple both our base from the 'dummy car' and the '2nd escort' from the President's car. Finally, we'll escape with the President's car and our base. After that, we'll come back in here and prepare to confront Deling."

Rinoa piped up. "We have exactly five minutes to complete the seven procedures. If we fail, our train will collide with theirs at the switch point and it'll be all over. Don't forget that."

"So no pressure, okay?" Harry quipped. Rinoa shot him a look.

"Five minutes? You sure that's enough?" Zell asked.

"According to the simulation that we ran, it should take only three minutes to complete the operation. Piece of cake for SeeDs, right?" Zone remarked.

Selphie nodded, pumping her fist. "Of course! Too easy!" Squall remained quiet. Then she looked thoughtful as Rinoa prepared to explain the uncoupling process. "How can you uncouple the cars from a moving train?"

"We can't. Not directly," Rinoa answered. "Instead, we'll have to tamper with the control system that manages the coupling. By temporarily disabling the circuit for the connection, the car will uncouple automatically. To do that, we'll have to enter several codes."

"And we have the codes," Watts eagerly supplied. "Rinoa has them, sir!"

"Well, so does Harry..." Zone added weakly.

"Rinoa will be relaying the codes to Squall," Harry turned toward the SeeD squad leader. "Squall, you'll slide down on the side of the train using a cable and enter the codes into the system. Each code is a four digit number comprised of numbers one through four. You'll have to be quick and precise; you'll have about five second to enter each code."

"Otherwise, the code will change and the past entries will become invalid," Rinoa explained. "After we uncouple the cars, we'll wait for the others to operate the rail switch. Remember, we only have five minutes to do everything, so make sure you're prepared." A brief pause. "Um...that's all."

"You mentioned thermal and movement sensors earlier. How exactly do we avoid them?" Zell asked.

"The sensor range isn't far, about the width of a window. Just avoid being over the window when the tech officer is checking the sensor and you'll be fine," Harry answered.

"By the way..." Selphie wondered. "This model's nice, but the president's car looks kinda shabby...Why is that?"

Harry started to snicker when Rinoa's face flushed. "Rinoa made it, that's why. We bought everything else at the gift store."

"Oh..." Zell commented. "I thought some kid made it. The paint job sucks, too."

Yeah, Rinoa is certainly no Dean Thomas, Harry thought.

"Oh shut up!" Rinoa fumed under the teasing. "I made it look like that on purpose. It represents my hatred toward Deling."

"Hatred, eh...? Yeah...right." Zell looked as though he didn't believe her.

"It's one of the...ugliest things that I've ever seen in my life," Selphie added. "You must really hate him."

"Are you guys finished!? Enough about the model! Can we get on with it now!?" Rinoa might as well stomp her foot to complete the image of childish indignation she was portraying. Harry stopped sniggering, but his lips remained smirking. She took a breath. "Well, if you understand everything, let's decide on the party."

Watts stepped back. "Gathering information is my specialty, sir!" He then ran out of the room.

Zone knelt in the corner. "OuuuucHHHH...my stomach!"

"...You guys are pathetic..." Harry muttered as the train began to move once more. "C'mon, it's almost time to move out. We better go get into position."

~HP&SEHP&SEHP&SE~

I think everyone will be surprised when I update again.

Harry: You think?


	4. Meeting with the President

That helmet won't be necessary, Harry...

Harry: I'll be running and jumping across moving trains. _Of course_ it's necessary.

~HP&SEHP&SEHP&SE~

Up on board the roof of the train, the wind whistling in his ears and blowing his hair around...Harry was reminded of playing Seeker for the Gryffindor quidditch team. At least until Rinoa's shouting "Get over here!" brought an abrupt end to the daydream. _Right, back on the clock._ He joined Rinoa, Zell, and Selphie at the end of the dummy car as they caught up to the tail end of the Galbadian President's train. "Let's use every second we can." With that, Rinoa was the first to jump to the other train, followed by Squall, Zell, than Selphie.

_Can't be any worse than jumping FROM a moving train...in an underground tunnel...right?_ Harry got a running start and made a flying leap...and landed with a bit of a roll on the roof of the other train. _Just call me 'Action Man.'_ He got his feet under him and followed the others across the car carefully, avoiding the sensors. Zell had a close call with the sound sensor, barely stopping in time to avoid setting it off. But otherwise they made it across without incident, before proceeding across the President's car.

~HP&SE~

**A Galbadian solder strolled into the room with its solitary occupant, and saluted. "Sir, everything is in order, sir!"**

**"You again..." President Deling sighed. "That's twenty-seven times now."**

"Wow, mate, are you seriously that bored as to count how many times you've been given a status report?" Ron asked.

**"How many more times do you plan to disturb me with that meaningless report?"**

**"Sir, I'm sorry, sir...but it is my duty, sir!" A hasty salute accompanied the apology.**

**"...It's hard to believe that anyone would put up with this nonsense," the President muttered. "I guess it's none of my business. Dismissed."**

**Yet another salute. "...! Sir, yes, sir!"**

"What an ass," Ginny commented.

The soldier's thoughts as he left the room popped up on-screen. _**There goes next month's paycheck. How am I going to propose to her now? I'm going to have to have to put it off again...**_

"Poor guy," Hermione remarked sympathetically.

"Well he was the idiot that signed up to joined the Galbadian army..." Ron offered.

~HP&SE~

"This is the first escort," Rinoa told Squall. We're gonna uncouple this first."

"Zell, Selphie, and I will watch the guards and warn you early if they're coming," Harry offered. The two mentioned SeeDs took up positions along the car.

Squall prepared the cable. "The system to enter the code is down there," Rinoa explained. "You can't miss it. If a guard is coming, you'll need to get back up here quick or they'll see the cable."

"..." Squall finished attaching the cable to the roof of the car and secured it around his waist. With a nod, he descended down and found the control system.

"Three-four-one-two!" Rinoa called down. Squall tapped the code in.

Zell looked up. "Yo, the red!"

Harry leaned over the side. "Squall, a guard's coming." Squall slapped the panel shut and climbed back up the cable, Harry hitting the mechanism to rewind the cable to help him back up faster. A few seconds after he was up, the guard passed underneath the window, glanced out, turned around and headed back the way he came. Then Squall descended once more.

"Four-four-one-three!" Squall punched the code in. Harry glanced questioningly at Selphie, who shook her head. No guard coming yet. He nodded to Rinoa, who relayed "Two-three-two-two!" to Squall. There was a small shudder as the trains began to uncouple, causing Squall to ascend back to the roof. "This way!" Rinoa lead the group back on to the roof of the President's car.

The first escort pulled ahead, creating a gap between the cars. Harry watched as the Owls' train slid in at the switch point, slowed down enough to catch the Presiden'ts car with the automatic coupling control, then accelerated to link up with the first escort.

"Okay...now, Zell, Squall, and I will go prepare to uncouple the second escort car while Harry and Selphie work on the dummy car," Rinoa ordered. "Let's go!"

~HP&SE~

**The soldier returned again, though President Deling now had a newspaper he was reading. **_**What should I do...? I know he's not gonna like it...but...it's my job.**_** He started to salute. "S-Sir...Everything is in order, sir!" After several seconds of no response, the guard's thoughts came on-screen again. **_**Huh...? He's not angry? Phew. That's strange. Oh, he's reading the paper. I wonder where he got it?**_

**A second, red-clad with heavier armor ran in. "What!? Is there a problem!?" He stepped closer to the President than the other had.**

**"I'm in a bad mood right now!" Deling snarled. "If there is nothing in particular, I order you to leave immediately!"**

"Wow...that looks just like the real Deling," Ron commented.

"The Owls techs sure did a bang-up job with the dummy," Ginny agreed.

**"S-S-Sir aye aye...YESSIR!" the red guard acknowledged before turning his subordinate. "YOU! Don't just stand there! Get back to your station!"**

**A salute. "S-Sir, yessir!" **_**There goes another paycheck. That's two in one day.**_

**A grunt, and the red soldier turned to leave, before pausing to look around, muttering to himself, "What the **_**heck**_**!? Is this the right train?" **_**The interior looks different, looks shabbier? Maybe not?**_** With a shrug, he left.**

"Idiots," Hermione breathed.

"Yeah, but that's good though, right?" Ron countered. "Makes it easier for Harry."

"True..."

**The Galbadian soldier in blue hung his head as he walked out. **_**What am I gonna do? No ring, and now no more candlelight dinner. I'm never gonna be able to get married...**_

"Poor guy..." Ginny remarked sympathetically.

"...Yeah, now _I'm_ starting to pity that bloke," Ron agreed.

~HP&SE~

Harry nodded to Selphie. "After this, we're home free. No guards, so this'll be quick." He handed her a list of codes. "Read these off to me, will you? I won't be able to hold this, the cable, and punch in the codes at this speed."

"Okey-dokey!" Selphie knelt next to the cable attachment Harry placed before securing the cable around his waist.

"Thanks." Harry descended down to the car, rappelling down, and stopping just above the bottom of the car. Harry popped open the panel and nodded up to Selphie, who began relaying codes down to him. He tapped them in quickly...cursing as his fingers missed one key, causing him to have to move on to the next code. But after that, he didn't have a problem. Once all five codes were in, he gave a tug, and Selphie reeled him back up and they headed back inside as the trains uncoupled. A minute later, Rinoa, Zell, and Squall were climbing back inside as the second escort came began to come loose. Their train sped up a bit, causing the tailing car to gain enough speed to catch up to the the Galbadian train on its own, before the Owls' train split off onto a different track and made its escape.

Zone met them in the briefing room. "Finally...We've waited so long for this encounter with Vinzer!"

"Well then..." Rinoa panted lightly, catching her breath.

Watts and Zone turned away. "Leave the intelligence up to me, sir!" "OwOwOuccchhh..."

Even Rinoa shook her head at them...before looking at the SeeDS. "Tell me when you're ready to go. As soon as you're ready, I'll begin 'serious negotiations' with the president!"

Squall nodded their readiness...and the five of them trooped into the captured president's car. Rinoa approached the President, Harry a step behind her with his hand on Gryffindor's sword. "President Deling!"

_Is it just me...or does something feel off about this?_ Harry mused, his eyes on the Galbadian president.

"As long as you...don't resist," Rinoa faltered. "You won't get hurt..."

Deling slowly turned his head to her. "And if I do resist...What would you do...? Young...lady?"

Harry pulled Rinoa back as Deling climbed to his feet out of his booth. "What's wrong?" Squall asked.

Harry scowled. "We've been set up."

"Boo-hoo, too bad," Deling mocked. "I'm not the president. I'm what they call...a body double." He smirked and faced them...and now they could see clearly just how fake he really was. "All these rumors about the many resistance groups in Timber...You pass along a little false information and they fall for it...How pathetic...Seems like there are only amateurs around here."

Zell scuffed the toe of his boot at the 'amateurs' comment.

"Ahh...My butt hurts from all this sitting...Young...LADY..."

"Creepy..." Selphie muttered.

The fake Deling's body made some eerie popping sounds...before throwing himself at Rinoa. Harry pushed her out-of-the-way and thrust his sword forward, spearing the fake through the chest. The sword gleamed in the light, and the body-double shrieked in pain before throwing Harry off and into the far end of the car.

"What the...?" Squall muttered as the fake president melted into a puddle of goo, before transforming himself into a grey-skinned monstrosity.

"Inferus...or something like it," Harry panted, pulling himself off the wall.

"A what?" Rinoa asked from her spot behind the SeeDs.

"Basically, a zombie," Squall explained, before leaping forward to attack with his weapon, a curious cross between sword and gun. The blade bit deeply into the zombie, and the teen wrenched it free and leapt back to avoid the counterswipe. Though he wasn't expecting the creature's arm to stretch, as Squall barely avoided a massive blow from the thing's oversized left hand.

"Tch!" Zell came in next, deploying his gloved fists in rapid succession, only to cartwheel away from the zombie's counter of a toxic-looking breath attack.

"Nothing a few Tic-Tacs wouldn't cure, I reckon," Harry quipped as he climbed to his feet, brandishing his sword as Selphie pelted the abomination with a Fira spell. _Er, I guess I should have known the spells would be similar, it is the same series after all...But...without Materia...hang on, do they even use Materia here?_

From behind the SeeDs, Rinoa's arm crossbow released a bolt. It flew straight into the zombie's chest...for all the good it seemed to do. Harry took advantage of being behind it to flank, swinging his sword with a two-handed horizontal slash.

The magic of Gryffindor's sword held true, burning through the Inferus with ease. Harry ducked away from the wild, shrieking counter attack, stepping back. Squall was quick to take the opening presented to him, and slash into the open, bleeding wound Harry had carved. With the roar of a shotgun blast, a barrage of flames erupted around Squall's sword as he struck.

At least, Harry thought that was what a shotgun sounded like.

The explosion knocked the zombie toward Harry, helped along by another Fira spell from Selphie. Rather than get bowled over by flying Inferus, Harry ran back toward the wall and leapt, then kicked off of it and sailed over the incoming zombie's right shoulder. Harry swung his sword as he flew past, catching the monstrosity in the neck and beheading it. The creature's body crumbled to the floor, melting into a bubbling, nasty-smelling puddle of gray-colored goo.

The attack would have looked totally awesome, Harry concluded a moment later, if only he stuck the landing. Which he didn't. Instead, he hit the floor heavily on his side, rolling instinctively to lessen the impact, and came to a stop on his back at the toes of Selphie's brown boots. He looked up into her sparkling green eyes and said "I meant to do that. Honest." This caused both women to erupt in giggles as Harry climbed to his feet with what dignity he could muster.

The smell was getting worse, so after Squall and Harry wiped their blades clean, the five exited the car and shut and locked the door. Shortly after, Harry heard and felt the train cars uncouple, and the Owls' train sped away, leaving the captured Galbadian car to send itself off the end of an abandoned rail line and over the cliff edge into the ocean where, Harry imagined, it would become a new home for various aquatic life.

They met up with Zone in the briefing room. "Man! I can't believe the president was a fake!" Zone complained.

"I can't believe we fell for it!" Rinoa whined.

"Info, sir! New info!" Watts ran in. "It's big news! I found out the real reason why the president's here, sir! The presiden'ts going to the TV Station! Security's super tight, sir!"

"The TV Station?" Rinoa wondered. "Why in Timber? They can broadcast just as easily from Galbadia."

Selphie tilted her head. "You think the Dollet communication tower has anything to do with this?"

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Dollet has a communication tower that can transmirt and receive radio waves," Squall explained. "It had been abandoned for a long time, but the Galbadian Army got it up and running yesterday."

"Ohh, I get it," Harry nodded. "So, the only TV station that can handle on-air broadcasts is in Timber?"

"Right," Zell confirmed. "Other stations use HD cable, which only supports online broadcasting."

"So what's that supposed to mean?" Rinoa asked.

"They're planning on using radio waves," Zone replied. "This way, they can broadcast to regions without cable."

"I know that!" Rinoa scowled. "What I want to know is, what is the president going to broadcast!? Why use radio waves? There must be something they want to say to the whole world. What can it be?"

Selphie nodded. "Everybody! Love! And! Peace!"

Everyone in the room facepalmed. "Somehow...I doubt that," Harry summed it up.

"If I remember correctly, radio waves haven't been used in seventeen years," Zone moved the conversation along

"It's been that long?" Rinoa wondered. "Really?"

"Yeah."

_I know I'm going to regret this..._ "Hey..." Harry suggested. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if the first broadcast could be the declaration of Timber's independance?"

Zone, Watts, and Rinoa looked at him with awe. "That...might be possible."

"Let's come up with a plan then!" Rinoa looked to the SeeDs. "Can you guys give us a minute?" Zone and Watts knelt down in the corner to discuss...Rinoa pulled the reluctant Harry down to join them.

Harry sighed. "So, what, we get to the station before the Galbadians do?"

"That wouldn't work, we don't really have the people to get the station up and running," Zone replied.

"Then how do you suppose we take control of the station from them after they get it up and running?"

"Well..."

"Excuse me," Squall butted in. "But before you get too into your...strategy meeting...can I see your contract with our Garden?"

Rinoa shrugged. "Oh, sure." She handed him an official looking paper.

"What's it say?" Zell asked.

Squall read it aloud. "...'Balamb Garden' (Party A) acknowledges 'The Forest Owls' (Party B) as the hiring party. SeeD (Party C) shall be dispatched upong signing of this contract. Party C shall operate under the supervision...'" he trailed off.

"The hell...?" Zell looked dumbstruck. Squall didn't look particularly pleased, either.

"I don't get it," Selphie agreed.

"Yeah, when I told him I didn't understand," Rinoa nodded, "he gave me a different one." She handed a fresh sheet over. "Cid is such a nice man."

"What's it say this time?" Selphie asked.

Squall read this one aloud too. "'To the Forest Owls; This SeeD deployment contract will last until Timber achieves independence. Please make good use of each SeeD member.

"'I wish you the best with your objective. Please understand that this contract is an exception, and no replacement of any SeeD members can be made.

"'Balamb Garden Headmaster Cid Kramer.'"

"Until Timber's independence!?" Zell repeated.

"That is soooo vague!" Selphie agreed.

"Hey, you're paid professionals! No complaining!" Rinoa remarked. Harry rolled his eyes. "I saw that, Harry!" She turned back to the SeeDs, ignoring Harry's sticking his tongue out at her briefly. "Okay, let's decide on the parties!" Naturally Watts and Zone chickened out. "So, of the five of us, the ones who'll be heading to the TV Station will be myself, Squall..."

Harry sighed, cutting into the pause as Rinoa thought. "Well, I suppose five of us would draw attention...splitting up may not be a bad idea. If we split into two groups, I should go with one and Rinoa with the other, that way there's one person with each team who knows their way around." Squall nodded in agreement with Harry's logic. Harry continued, "I have a sword, so if you're debating whether to send a physical fighter or magical support..."

"Selphie," Squall cut in. "Go with the kid."

"Right!" Selphie grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him to her side. "C'mon, it'll be like a date!"

Harry tried valiantly not to flush...Rinoa's giggling and Zell's snickering told him he failed miserably. "Not like the dates in my experience..." he muttered.

"Then it's decided!" Rinoa announced. "Squall, Zell, and I will go as a group, while Selphie and Harry be the calvary if anything goes wrong."

"So all we need is a way to the TV Station," Harry concluded.

"The TV Station, sir?" Watts butted in. "It's quite close if you take the local train...oh, but the local and transcontinental trains have stopped running, sir..."

"How...convenient," Harry deadpanned.

"Nothing to worry about sir!" Watts continued. "There must be someone in town who knows. Maybe the Foxes, sir?"

The Timber Foxes were a resistance group that specialized in hiding and providing 'smokescreens' for the other groups. They knew a lot of the back-alleys and such...Harry nodded. "Right. Selphie and I'll try to contact them...maybe they know a way around the Timber Maniacs building?" The Timber Maniacs was an old magazine based out of its namesake, the town of Timber.

Watts looked stumped. "I can't believe I forgot...the TV Station is behind the Timber Maniacs building, sir!"

"Well I'm new to town, maybe that's why I remembered it..."

Squall took command. "Fine. We'll head to the Timber Maniacs building, while Harry and Selphie contact the Foxes. Let's go."

The train screeched to a stop, and Squall, Rinoa, and Zell got off the train first, Rinoa leading the way to the Timber Maniacs building. Watts followed Harry and Selphie off the train onto the platform. Watts nodded his head. "I hope you find it, sir!"

From inside the train, Harry heard Zone yelling. "WaaaaaaaTTS! C'MON! The Galbadian soldiers are comin'!" With that the train started to take off.

"Lots of guards patrolling the city now! Please be careful, sir!"

"Um, Watts...the train's leaving."

Watts blinked and looked as the last car of the Owls' train left the platform. "Hey...!? Don't leave me sirrrrrrr!" He leapt down onto the tracks and began to run after it.

Harry facepalmed. Selphie giggled. And Harry's headache returned with a vengenance. "It's gonna be a looong day..."

~HP&SEHP&SEHP&SE~

Yeah I think people missed me...I had three reviews within an hour of posting the previous chapter.

Sirius: Watch it there, mate, your head's getting bigger.

Shouldn't you be more concerned about Harry being alone with a girl?

Sirius: Hey, you're right!

Harry: Bugger..._so_ close to getting out of here before he noticed, too...Thanks a lot, Cor.

Anytime!


End file.
